Yesterday I made the decision to step away from my obsession with Facebook. It was dominating my life, my time, and my attention. I deleted it off from my phone, which I had been attached to like a baby to a pacifier. For those who don’t know text messages and Facebook updates trigger a part in our brains that increases dopamine, creating us addicted to always checking our phones in expectation of new updates. Dopamine is the chemical our bodies produce when we are rewarded with pleasure and happiness. Like when we purchase a new item for ourselves it also increases dopamine. This occurrence is only a temporary feeling of happiness. Every morning that I would wake up the first thing I did was check my FB wall. It was more than just an obsession but more a daily habit. A habit I couldn’t break lose from. I don’t know why I felt so in desperate need to scroll down my wall to the last point I remember checking it the night before, as if I was going to miss something. Yes, I live in the country and have no friends here, and yes I miss my friends and family in Florida but does that give me the right to be obsessed with checking my entire wall for updates? Facebook has it’s positive things like providing network opportunities to help save animals or like help raise money for charities but it has also taken away the physical aspect of traditional communication skills like talking on the phone with an old friend, talking face to face, and even texting eachother. Now all we have to do is check our wall and see what our friends and family are up to. I can’t count how many lost hours I have wasted in checking my Facebook wall, I can’t win back those hours either, it’s time I have spent on nothing but just scrolling through, and through and through to see what? Funny videos that are shared like potato chips, or vacation pictures of people I don’t even socialize in person with, or reading quotes that annoy the crap out of me cuz it’s the same shitty shit a girl with a broken heart keeps posting, all not worth it. Instead now if i want to share a picture of my dogs with someone special, I just text it directly to them, or I email them a video. Be more personal, instead of public. What’s the point of having so many friends, if you don’t have any personal experiences with them throughout your day? Don’t be a stranger to your friends, be close and personal, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and say hello, how are you doing? In life we can either strengthen our relationships and bonds, or let them dissolve into just some faint memories. Pick and chose who you want in your life, who you want to keep close to, because the relationships we have today are the ones that are seeds to the future.